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Author: 


Quick,  M.W. 


Title: 

Modern  speculation,  its 
methods  and  effects  in. 

Place: 

Titusville 

Date: 

[1 888] 


MASTER    NEGATIVE   « 


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Modem  speculation,  its  methods  and  effects 
in  destroying  values  ^an  address  before  the 
New  York  state  grange  at  Jamestown,  Jan.  24, 
1888 3  Titufiville,  Pa.  ^ 1888 3 

cover-title,  34  p. 

At  head  of  title:  Gambling  in  the  products 
of  land  and  labor. 


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GAMBLING    IN    THE     PRODUCTS    OF    LAND    AMD    LABOR. 


Qu^^Mj    M.  W 


Modern   Speculation 


ITS  METHODS   AND  EFFECTS  TN   DESTROYING 

VALUES. 


The  only  freedom  I  care  about  is  the  freedom  to  do 
right;  the  freedom  to  do  wrong  I  am  ready  to  part  with 
on  the  cheapest  terms  to  any  one  who  will  take  it. 

HUXLEY. 


PRESS     AMERICAN     CITIZEN.    TITUSVILLE.    PA. 


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MODERN  SPECULATION. 


An  Address  by  M.  W.  Quick  of  Titusville,  Pa., 

Before    the    New   York    State    Grange 

AT   Jamestown,  January  24,  1888. 

Speculation,  as  it  is  known  to-daj^,  is  a  creature 
of  American  birth,  and  most  of  you  have  seen  it  grow 
from  a  mere  threat  of  existence,  to  the  development 
of  a  strength  that  enables  it  to  reach  out  and  exact 
tribute  from  every  branch  of  trade. 

When  I  was  asked  to  present  this  subject  to  you 
it  seemed  but  a  task  of  an  hour,  but  when  T  thumbed 
the  pages  of  its  record  the  work  before  me  assumed 
proportions  too  vast  to  allow  of  comprehensive  dis- 
cussion in  so  brief  a  time.  I  have  therefore  confined 
myself  to  turning  a  leaf  now  and  then  for  the  purpose 
of  giving  you  a  hasty  glance,  and  I  hesitate  at  the  re- 
sponsibility which  rests  upon  me,  for  I  can  unfold  so 
small  a  portion  of  the  whole  record  to  voiir  vision 
that  I  fear  I  shall  not  be  able  even  to  indicate  many 
of  the  darker  pages  which  this  record  contains. 

I  shall  make  no  effort  to  go  into  the  moral  aspect 
of  this  subject,  and  that  which  I  shall  present  for 
your  consideration  will  be  confined  strictly  to  the  ef- 
fect of  this  so  called  speculation  upon  the  commercial 
position  occupied  by  the  productive  industries  and 
tlieir  auxiliaries. 

Soon  after  the  failure  of  Grant  &  Ward,  in  May, 
1884,  and  while  the  mutterings  of  the  coming  panic 
were  filling  the  air,  a  young  man  came  to  me  request- 
ing a  loan  of  one  hundred  dollars,  and  offered  as  se- 


t 


2  MODERN  SPECULATION. 

curity  his  diamond  shirt  studs.    He  had  already  spent 
his  inheritance  in  the  oil  exchanges,  and  now  desired 
the  funds  necessary  to  secure  liis  broker  in  the  execu- 
tion of  an  order  to  sell  short,  that   he   might   thereby 
be  benefited  by  the  decline   in   oil  which  he  believed 
was  sure  to  follow.     Failing  to  enlist  my  sympathies 
in  his  effort  to  thus  sell  what  belonged  to  others,  he 
went  elsewhere  and  found   a   Kood    ''Samaritan"  who 
bound  up  his— diamonds,  and  I  next  heard  of  him  as  a 
heavy  and  successful  operator  in  the  ranks   of  those, 
who,  as  shown  by  the  oil  exchange  clearances,  bought 
and  sold  44,000,000  of  barrels  of  ^'oil"  per  day  during 
that  month— an  aggregate   of    1,200,000,000   l)arrels— 
more  than  live  times  the  entire  output  from  Ameiican 
fields  since  the  striking  of  the  I  )rake  well  in  1859,  gave 
the  world  a  new  light  and  a  new  industry. 

In  1882  a  system  of  cancellation  was  adopted   by 
the    oil    exchanges,    through    which   clearance-house 
sheets  took  the  place  of  oil  certificates,  and  these  once 
necessary  representatives  of  value  became  useful  only 
in  times  when  the  balance  of  rrade  between   the  ex- 
changes and  the  outside  world   made  it  necessary  to 
receive  and  deliver  oil  certificates,  and  even  this   was, 
to  a  certain  extent,  done  away  with  by  a  custom  of  bor- 
rowing and  lending.  Millions  of  barrels  of  so  called  oil 
were,  through  this  system,  sold  and  bought  by  opera- 
tors who  had  no  property  to   sell,  and  no   money  to 
pay  for  their  purchases,  and  when  the  panic  which  was 
precipitated  upon   the  country  during  that  eventful 
May  actuated  operators  with  one  desire  to  sell,  a  temp- 
est swept  the  oil  fields  and  the   value  of  producing 
property  was  so  depressed  that  for  nearly  four  yearg 
the  oil  producers  have  been   struggling  to   overcome 
the  effects  of  that  storm. 

The    fact  that   the  young     man,    whom  I  have 


MODERN   SPECULATION.  3 

mentioned,  soon  leturned  without  money  or  dia- 
monds to  his  legitimate  vocation,  may  be  of  passing 
interest;  that  lie  was  able,  through  such  an  invest- 
ment, to  sell  oil  without  thought  of  delivery,  and  thus 
to  aid  in  crippling  an  industry  which  was  at  that  time 
unable  to  support  its  own  burdens,  is  a  condition 
worthy  of  thought.  No  crime  can  be  laid  at  his  door; 
he  availed  himself  of  the  privilege  which  is  open  to 
all,  of  operating  without  property;  a  system  which 
fosters  and  encourages  uncommercial  transactions; 
one  which  nurtures  panic  and  chaos,  and  carries  a 
blighting  influence  to  the  very  base  on  which  it  rests. 
But  I  am  not  invited  here  to  t^ll  you  of  the  bur- 
dens which  producers  of  oil  are  called  upon  to  bear, 
but  rather  to  call  your  attention  to  similar  burdens 
which  you,  as  agriculturists,  are  supporting  by  your 
industry. 

In  doing  this  I  will  show  you  as  fully  as  time  will 
permit:  1st,  the  important  position  which  your  in- 
dustry occupies  in  the  commerce  of  the  world;  2d, 
the  great  enemy  with  which  you  have  to  contend;  and 
3d,  the  direction  to  which  you  must  look  for  relief. 

First  of  all,  the  impoitance  of  receiving  a  just  and 
fair  compensation  for  the  products  of  the  soil,  cannot 
be  overestimated.  It  is  a  matter  of  vital  importance, 
not  only  to  the  producer,  but  to  every  legitimat^^  fac- 
tor in  coujuierce  throughout  the  land.  No  person  en- 
gaged in  a  vocation  the  pursuit  of  which  tends  to  ele- 
vate and  better  the  condition  of  mankind,  should  for 
a  moment  tliink  that  he  is  above  the  consideration  of 
this  subject;  and  I  may  safely  say  that  none  of  those 
who  have  given  due  attention  to  the  foundation  on 
which  civilization  rests  can  be  indifferent  to  this  im- 
portant consideration. 


•4 


.4 


This 


is    a    commercial    age,     and    the     great 


4  MODERN   SPECULATION. 

question  to  you,  as  tillers  of  the  soil,  is:  How 
shall  we  obtain  a  just  reward  for  our  toil  -an  honest 
market  for  the  produce  of  that  soil  which  our  fathers 
wrested  from  the  wilderness?  You  want  nothing 
more;  you  will  be  content  with  nothing  less!  To  answer 
.  these  questions  was  the  purpose  of  your  organization, 
and  you  are  gathered  here  as  representative  produceis 
of  the  Empire  State,  hoping  to  have  some  light  thrown 
upon  this  subject,  and  to  be  able  to  repc^rt  to  your 
constituents  that  progress  has  been  made  towards  its 
solution. 

The  value  of  American  produce  gauges  the  circu- 
lation of  money  among  the  American  people.  Not 
only  this;  it  decides  the  balance  for  or  against  us  as  a 
nation  in  our  commerce  with  foreign  lands.  Accord- 
ing as  this  value  is  high  or  low,  the  avenues  of  trade 
are  crowded  or  deserted.  It  decides  what  luxuries  - 
yes!  even  what  necessaries  may  be  enjoyed  around 
four  million  farm  firesides.  By  this  value  more  than 
three  hundred  millions  of  acres  of  cultivated  lands  are 
made  profitable  or  worthless,  and  the  amount  of  com- 
pensation for  the  labor  of  fully  three  fourths  of  our 
population  engaged  in  all  the  industrial  pursuits,  is 
directly  determined. 

The  pric^  received  for  your  produce  deterujines 
what  kind  of  food,  what  quality  of  clothing,  what 
nourishment  for  the  sick,  and  what  pleasure's  you 
can  provide  for  yourself  and  for  your  loved  ones  at 
home.  It  is  this  that  marks  the  line  beyond  which 
the  merchant  cannot  advance;  it  defines  fhe  demand 
for  manufactured  wares;  it  metes  out  the  wages  for  the 
mechanic's  toil;  it  deter  mines  the  traffic  on  the  rail- 
roads which  pass  your  doors,  and  is  indeed  the  very 
heart's  blood  of  commerce. 

What  is  your  condition  as  agriculturists,  to-day  ? 


MODERN   SPECULATION.  5 

You  have  gone  through  years  of  depression,  and  have 
seen  them  followed  by  years  of  greater  depression.  You 
have  entertained  hopes  of  a  brighter  future,  and  have 
seen  the  clouds  gather  with  increasing  darkness.  The 
tendency  of  your  store  has  been  to  shrink  year  by 
year.  Your  farms  are  declining  in  value;  your  hours 
of  leisure  are  shortening,  and  your  ability  to  furnish 
recreation  for  the  mind  and  body,  by  travel  and  asso- 
ciation with  the  people  of  the  world,  is  constantly  be- 
ing curtailed. 

In  this  depressed  condition  you  find  many  other 
branches  of  industry.  By  reason  of  your  narrowed 
incomes,  one  branch  of  commerce— the  most  import- 
ant  of  all  the  branches— is  in  a  state  of  partial  paral- 
ysis,  and  all  the  other  branches,  through  this,  are  de- 
prived of  vigor. 

Why  is  this  ?  Can  you  answer  by  merely  refer- 
ring  to  protection  or  free  trade  theories  i  By  simply 
pointing  to  statistics  of  over-production  and  under- 
consumption ?  By  arguing  upon  the  scarcity  of  money 
or  excessive  coinage  (  By  deploring  the  excesses  of 
luxury  or  by  writing  sonnets  on  the  sufferings  of 
want  ?  I  do  not  hesitate  to  answer,  No!  This  course 
of  reasoning  may  serve  to  divert  the  attention  or 
arouse  the  sympathies,  but  it  cannot  solve  the  prob- 
lem. 

Believing  that  I  will  find  no  opposition .  among 
(Grangers  in  the  importance  which  I  attach  to  this 
class  of  producers,  and  the  necessity  of  obtaining  a 
remuneiative  price  for  their  labor,  I  will  proceed  to 
an  investigation  of  the  artificial  systems  which  dictate 
prices,  and  in  go  doing  I  am  brought  to  the  considera- 
tion of  what  I  stated  to  be  the  second  division  of  my 
subject,  namely:  the  enemy  which  is,  in  my  opinion 
not  only  threatening,  but  destroying  our  commercial 


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^  MODERN  SPECULATION. 

life.     That  enemy  I  believe  to  be  Modern  Speculation 
l^est,  however.  I  may  not  be  nnderstcul  I  wisli  in  the 

eZZT  V  *"''•'  '''  """"  '"^  ^«"«^  "-^  *■--»  1^- 

and   Tt       ,^"^'*"««*^  «I>««»Iation     luis    peopled 
and    developed     o„r     country.       It  bus     tunnelled 
our  mountains  and  bridged   our  rivers.     It  has  gone 
forth  and  returned  with  the  produce  of  all  climes      It 
ha.s  distributed  abundant  harvests  throu.di  succeeding 
penods  ot  want.     It  has  brought  the  antipodes  to  a 
common  center,  and  has  been  to  commerce  what  steam 
foTtW  T  ""-f^'''^^-     ^   also   believe  in  providing 
for  the  future  by  purchases  and  sales  un.ler  contra,.ts 
maturmg  at  a  specified  time.     I  can  see  n.any  ways  in 
which  such  contracts  may  very  properly  be  an  infpor- 
tant  feature  of  legitimate  commerce,  and  I  would  un- 
der no  circumstances  ham,>er  the  sale  of  property  for 
speculative  purposes,  whether  done  by  spot  transac 
tions,  or  by  agreements  f„r  fut.ire  delivery      [  have 
done  and  am  willing  to  continue   doing    all   in   mv 
power  to  promote,  protect,  and   perpetuate  such  spe,?. 
ula^on,  and  I  claim  that  th.ie  is  nothing  inconsistent 
n  following  this  by  saying,  that  of  speculation  as  it 
IS  known  to-day  I  cannot  find  words  to  express  my 
condemnation     I  am  here,  however,  for  the  purpose 
of  expressmg  my  views  on  ,  he  subject,  yet  I  fear  that 
my  time  is  too  short  to  enabl.-  me  to  lay  them  before  you 
Ui  such  a  n.anner  as  to  insure  your  complete  compre- 

You  all   know  that    exchanges    exclusively    for 
d«ihng  in    the  principal  products  of  th.  soil "  hav« 
arisen  m  all  the  leading  cities,  and  that  '-bran  h  of 
h  es    and  "bucket  shops"  are  swinging  their  signs  i^^i 
the  smaler cities,  and  in  nearly  all ,  he  villages  th.tugh- 
outthe  land.     The  larger  and  more  ostentatious    of 


MODERN   SPECULATION.  J 

these  institutions  have  assumed  to  dictate  to  the  world 
the  price  at  which  your  products  sliall  be  bought  and 
sold,  while  the  smaller  ones  hold  themselves  in  readi- 
ness to  execute  orders  through  the  regular  exchanges, 
or  to  become  bankers  in  a  commercial-gambling  haz- 
ard on  the  fluctuations.  So  irnixjrtant  have  these 
exchanges  become  that  whole  pages  of  the  daily 
press  are  given  to  a  nairation  of  their  transactions, 
while  there  are  peiiodicals  which  are  entirely  devoted 
to  the  interests  of  tliese  speculative  centres. 

Before  we  go  further  let  us  see  what  are  the  nature 
and  purposes  of  an  exchange.  We  may  thus  arrive 
at  intelligent  conclusions  founded  upon  analysis. 

An    exchange   is    a    close  coiporation-monopoly- 
combinaiion.     You  have  a  voice  in  the  administration 
of  the  town,  county,  State,  and  National  Government, 
but  you  have  none  in  the  exchanges.    They  hold  daily 
sessions  in  which  your  i)ropeity  is   at   stake,  yet   you 
are  not  recognized  as  having  even   the   right   of  peti- 
tion.    You  represent  the  soil  and  its  produce,  yet  the 
exchanges  monopolize  the   (commerce  growing  out  of 
your  industry.     Their  doors  are  (closed   against   the 
producers,    the   transporters,   the   exporters,  and   the 
consumers.     The  autocrats  who  hold  this  business  in 
their  hands  would  as  soon  think  of  asking  you   as   to 
the  quality  of  wines  which  they  shall  serve  at  dinner, 
as  of  consulting  your  interests  in  the  transactions 
founded  upon  your   products.     An  exchange  is   sepa- 
rate and  distinct  from  the  balance   of  the  community, 
making  its  own  laws,  rules,  and  regulations   of  trade. 
It  has  power  to  enforce  these   rules   and   laws   among 
members,  but  no  court  has  yet  been   found   that   will 
enforce  contracts  of  this  nature.     So  far  as  the  statute 
laws  are  concerned  they  are  evaded  or  rendered  inop- 
erative.    The  very  existence  of  property  can  be,  and 


I 


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Q 

o  MODERN  SPECULATION. 

W  ^?*/***°* '"'  '^•"^  '"^  their  buying  and  sell- 
ing and  If  you  are  an  aggrieved  party  in  one  of  these 
transactions,  the  one  in  default  can  "defy  the  courts. 

JMow  an  association  of  this  kind  becomes  a  petty 
monarchy  in  itself,  which,  within  its  province,  exerts  'a 
greater  power  than  the  Government  under  whi<.h  it 
exists.  Do  you  aslc  me  how  'i  In  the  power  to  make 
laws  which  are  more  potent  than  common  law,  com- 
naercial  law,  and  the  laws  of  equity  an.l  justice.  In 
the  power  to  make  laws  which  protect  those  who  are 
members  of  the  association,  but  to  whi.A  no  other 
portion  of  the  community  have  an  appeal. 

I  say  an  exchange  can  do  all  this  and  prohibit 
from  becoming  members  all  who  do  not  sign  its  com- 
pact. I  do  not  say  that  it  does  make  .such  laws- I 
say  It  can.     By  its  work  let  us  judge  it. 

It  would  take  too  much  time  for  me  to  give  you 
an  adequate  idea  of  the  whole  speculative  business  :ts 
conducted  under  exchange  rules,  and  I  will  therefore 
confine  myself  to  its  influence  on  one  .ommodity- 
wheat.     When  I  have  told  you  how  these  close-corpo- 
ration laws  have  by  their  influence  degraded  the  traffic 
in  this  one  great  food  staple,  you  will  have  heard  the 
story  of  modem  speculation,  not  only  in  wheat  but  in 
cotton,  corn,  pork,  and  all  the  leading  products  of  a-- 
ncultural  industry,  as  well  as  in  shares  of  mining  an.l 
railroad  stocks,  petroleum,  metals,  and  last,  but  not 
least,  in  silver  bullion. 

^    I  learn  from  the  New  York  papers  that  the  sales 
of  wheat  in  the  Produce  Exchange  of  that  <itv,  during 

^  Z^^u"' ?'''^'"'^^''  ^^''  ^^gregated  abm.t  260,- 
000,000  of  bushels.  Of  this  amount  3,600,(kjo  busheLs 
were  cash  wheat,  or  sales  for  immediate  delivery,  the 
balance,  166,400,000,  were  sales  on  future  contracts. 
Wow  this  is  li  per  cent,  of  the  real  to  9^per  cent,  of 


MODERN   SPECULATION.  9 

the  unreal.  There  was  an  election  day,  Thanksgiving 
day,  and  four  Sundays  in  this  month,  leaving  twenty- 
four  business  days.  The  figures  given,  then,  sliow 
sales  eaoh  day  equal  to  the  yearly  product  of  the  Em 
pire  State,  and  more  than  twenty  times  the  average 
monthly  exports  from  all  our  ports,  including  tiour 
reduced  to  wheat  equivalent. 

This,  understand  me,  exhibits  the  operations  of 
one  exchange  in  the  wheat  business  and  includes  no 
branches  or  bucket  shops. 

The  3,600,000  bushels  reported  as   the  actual  cash 
transactions  for  the  month,  weiv  equal  to  9  j^tr  r(-nt. 
of  the  visible  supply,  and  when  we  take  into  consider- 
ation the  widespread  distribution  of  this   supply,  and 
the  equally  wide  distribution  of  the  exchanges,  this  9 
j}er  cent,  would  not  seem  to  be  far  from  indicating  the 
true  relation  which  the  Produce  Exchange  occupies, 
as  among  all  the  exchanges,  in  the  gene?al  speculative 
business.     As  these  figures  furnish  the  onlv  basis   for 
calculating  the  whole  business.  I  will  use  them  as  they 
are  presented.     Now  if  this   256  400,000  bushels   sold 
on  future  contracts   is  but  9  per  cent,  of  the   whole 
sales  of  this  nature,  we  are  to  make  an  effort  to  com- 
prehend 2,800,000,000  of  bushels  as  the  sales  foi-  one 
month  in  the  regular  exchanges.     Multiply  this  one 
month  by  twelve,  and  if  every  person   in    the  United 
States  should  quit  eating  wdieat,  and  if  our  ports  were 
closed  against  the  export  of   wheat,  it  would  take  the 
whole  product— about  50(),00(),000  bushels  per  year— 
for  the  next  lifty-six  years  to  terminate  these  contracts 
in  the  property  sold. 

I  need  not  ask  you  whether  this  is  legitimate  busi- 
ness. The  figures  may  be  divided  and  sub  divided 
many  times  and  still  you  would  answer-impossibJ^^I 

Now,  there  has  been  some   legitimate  buying  and 

2 


i 

i 


A.-^  w*^> 


r^ 


^^  MODERN   SPECULATION. 

selling,  as  is  shown  by  tliese    statements.     The    3  - 
600,000  bushels  were  sales  for  cash,  and  some  evidence 
of  property,  no  doubt,  pa^s^ed  from  seller  to  buyer 
This  is  trade, -business!    And  right  here  comes  the  il- 
lusion to  the  great  army  of  buyers.     Their  line  of  ar- 
gument may  be  supposed  to  run  like  this:    The  wheat 
business  of  the  country  is  done  in   the  exchanges,  and 
great  quantities  of  wheat  are  bought  and   sold   within 
them.     Ergo;  all  transactions  in   wheat  are  for  wheat 
But  I  think  that  I  have  shi.wn  you  by  the  foregoing 
hgures  that  all  transactions  in  wheat  are  not  for  wheat 
and  I  now  ask  you  to  consider  three  propositions. 

First.     That  future  cotitructs   neither  begin   nor 
end  in  receipt  or  delivery  of  actual  wheat; 

Second.     That  future  contracts  are,  in   effect,  an 
increase  m  the  apparent  supply;  and 

Third.     That  future  contracts  are  all-powerful  in 
fixing  values. 

To  the  first  proposition- that    future    contracts 
neither  begin  nor  end  in  actual   wheat-there  may  be 
and  no  doubt  are,  exceptions,  but  in   the  overwhelm^ 
ing  majority  of  cases  this  is  undoubtedly  true 

I-  chanced  to  look  at  a  New  York   Times  of  De- 
cember  7th  last,  and  there  were  sales  recorded  for   th« 
previous  day  of  about  32,00o,000  bushels  of  wheat  for 
future  delivery,   nearly  26,000,0(10  bushels  of  which 
v^ere  for  delivery  next  May.     The  same  issue  gave  the 
whole  visible  supply  as  about  40,000,000  bushels     The 
sales  of  this  26,000,000  were  for  JS^ew  York  delivery 
yet  New  York  never  held  that  amount  of   wheat  and 
will  lack  many  millions  of   bushels  of    having 'that 
amount  next  May.     Still  we  have  the  authority  of  the 
^ew  York  Times  that  this  amount  was  sold  for  deliv- 
ery during  next  May.     These  options  certainly  did 
not  begin  with  actual  wheat.     It  is  equally  certain 


MODERN   SPECULATION.  11 

that  they  will  not  end  in  actual  wheat.     To  assert  it 
would  be  absurd. 

There  will  be  a  settlement  day  in  May;  simply  a 
settlement  day.  If  the  sellers  of  wheat  options  control 
actual  wheat  on  that  day,  they  will  receive  the  differ- 
ence in  adjustment.  If  the  buyers  can  buy  enough 
actual  wheat  to  control  the  market,  and  to  advance  it 
above  the  price  named  in  their  contracts,  they  will 
dictate  the  price  of  settlement.  You  have  no  part  in 
this  deal.  The  millions  of  sales  are  founded  on  the 
idea  of  wheat,  and  are  called  wheat,  yet  they  are  not 
actual  wheat.  The  growers  of  this  grain  are  to-day, 
and  have  been  for  years,  doing  the  hard  work  necessary 
to  furnish  a  foundation  for  the  greatest  farce  known 
to  the  woild,  and  for  the  support  of  an  aristocracy 
who  conduct  a  travesty  on  commerce,  the  depressing 
influence  of   which  is  felt  in  all  branches  of  industry! 

To  the  second  proposition— that  future  contracts 
are,  in  efi'ect,  an  increase  of  the  apparent  supply— I 
ask  your  close  attention,  for  hidden  in  this  fact  I  see 
the  worm  that  has  been  blighting  your  prosperity.  To 
thoroughly  trace  the  workings  of  this  worm  I  would 
be  required  to  take  you  through  all  the  avenues  of  in- 
dustry; but  this  my  limited  time  will  not  permit. 

You  know  that  it  costs  money  to  carry  wheat. 
Now  the  middle-men  must  carry  this  surplus  of  forty 
millions  of  bushels  in  sight,  and  you  are  as  much  in- 
terested in  protecting  this  store  in  their  hands  as  you 
are  in  procuring  a  good  crop,  for  the  traffic  between 
them  fixes  the  price  for  the  product  of  your  harvest. 
The  burdens  borne  by  them  are  your  burdens,  for 
your  interests  are  advanced  and  depressed  by  the  same 
influences  that  advance  or  depress  the  value  of  the 
surplus  held  between  your  granaries  and  the  table  of 
the  consumer. 


I 


■i^mm^m     a  *«««*«k 


^^  MOBERN   SPECULATION. 

The  legitimate  expenses  of  carrviiiir  the  acti.al 
wheat  in  sight  are,  the  interest  on  the  iiioner  valiip. 
the  insurance,  and  the  storage  on  40,()()().(I(K)  of  bush- 
els.   On  the  bases  of  values  now  ruling,  this  aygregate 

expense  is  about  li  cents  per  month/or  15   cents'^per 
bushel  per  year. 

The  present  apparent  supply  cannot  be  carried  (or 
less  than  .^500,000  per  niontli.      That  is  a  burden   that 
will  under  all  circumstances  press  down  on  the  shoul- 
ders of  those  who  hold  wheat;  and  when  the  sliouldt^s 
get  tired,  the  effort  to  get  other  shoulders  to  <  ouie  to 
the  relief  of  the  aching  ones  tends  to  deprt^ss  thn  sell- 
ing price.     Now,  if  I  can  show  you    that    future   con 
tracts  increase  the  cost  of   holding  wheat  to  the   f„il 
extent  of  the  amount  sold,  I  think  you    will    have    no 
difficulty    in    coming   to   the   conclusion  that    wheat 
futures  are  as  much  of  a  burden   on  the  shoulders   <»f 
the  legitimate  factors  in  th.'  wheat  business  as  though 
they  were  actual  wheat. 

On  De('<  mbei  (Jth,  vNhen  the  26,()(0,()(in  of  bushels 
were  sold  -  uhich  I  have  shown  you  cannot  be  deliver- 
ed-the  spot  price  for  actual  wheat  was  80i  cents,  and 
May  options  were  sold  at  94  cents  per  bushel.      Now 
what    was    represented    by    this    4i  cents  per  bushel 
above  the  i>rice  of  genuine,  spot  wheat,  that  was  add- 
ed to  lix  the  base  for  these  May  contracts  ?      I  wish 
that  every  farmer  on  the  continent  would  give  thought 
to  this   question.      An   option   sale   of   wheat   whtch 
can  under  no  circumstances  l>e  terminated  by  the   de 
livery   of   wheat— which  must,    of   necessity,    l)e   ad- 
justed  by  the  receipt  and  payment  of  differences-and 
yet  there  is  embraced  in  the  price  of  this  future    con- 
tract a  pren.ium  of  4i  cents  i)er  bushel  above  the  value 
of  the  existing  reality  that  gives  it  a  name. 

Now  I  venture  the  asseition  that  if  there  were  nu 


MODEKX   SPECULATION.  IS 

expense  connected  with  carrying  actual  wheat  during 
the  existence  of  these  contracts,  this  4^  cents  would 
not  be  added.     No  (  ne  would  pay  this  ifnlf^ss   it  were 
in  lieu  of  the  expense  connected  with  carrying   actual 
wheat.    It  would  cost  (Ji  cents  per  bushel  to  carry  st(ued 
wheat  during  the  life  of  these  con  tracts,  or  J^  1, 625.  ( KM  Uo 
carry  the  26,0()().0()()  bushels  sold  on  this  (me  dav.      If 
you  wanted  to  carry  this  amount  of  wheat  until  May, 
and  believed  that  future  contracts   were   the  same  as 
actual  wheat,   because  they  would   terminate  on   the 
same  basis  of  value,  you  would  nodoub:  have  thought 
it  much  better  to  cover  the  ex]»ense  of  this  carr\in«^' 
by  [)urchasing  fjitures  at  a  premimn  of  si,  Io.\(kM)  than 
to  carry  the  actual  wheat  at  an  expense  of  JS  1,020,000, 
for  you  would    thus  save  the  sum  of  So2o,(M)0.      This 
would  seem  to  be  a  go(>d  business  enterprise;  but  when 
you  go  behind  the  scenes  and   find  out  that   the  con- 
tract wheat  never  existed,  it  becomes  clear  that   while 
there  is  an  ap[)arent  saving  of  JKr)2o,0(iO,  there  is  em- 
braced a  consideration  of  s|jor).0()o  for  a  service   that 
cannot  be  performed,     it  is  for  carrying  a  commodity 
which  does  not  exist,  and  the  very  fact  that  this  ap 
parent  service  can  be  secured  at  a  price  one-third   less 
than  the  gold   value  of  actual  service,   is  enough   to 
justify  us  in  stani  ping  across   its  face  in  letters  large 
and  plain,  the  word— counterfeit! 

Now  I  want  to  draw  your  attention  to  the  conclu- 
sion which  follows,  for  it  is  the  vital  point  in  the 
argun]ent  which  1  have  been  endeavoring  to  make.  In 
the  first  place,  we  find  the  figures  which  show  thesales 
of  future  contracts,  ostensibly  representing  wheat,  to 
be  so  enormously  in  excess  of  any  possible  supply, 
that  our  suspicions  of  their  genuineness  are  anuised.  In 
the  next  place,  we  discover  that  the  price  of  tliese 
futures  is  at  a  figure  so  much  lower  than  can  be  leo-it- 


I 
1 


1^  MODERN   SPECULATION. 

imately  acconnted  for.  that  oiir  suspicions  ii re  confirm- 
ed, and  we  are  forced  to  believe  that  they  are  counter- 
feit and  do  not  represent  actual    wheat  at  all       Now 
with  these  counterfeits  upon  the  market,  as  good,  or 
even  better  for  speculative  purposes,  than  the  genuine 
and  ur.derbidding  for  a  pretended   service   the  actual 
value  of    the  real-is    not  thn  conclusion    inevitable 
that  the  burdens  of  carrying  the  surplus  are  thus  in- 
creased, and  just  as  palpably  too,  as  though  the  store- 
houses of  the  country   contained   the  fuli  amount  of 
wheat  that  is  represented  by  these  contracts  «      Is  not 
this,  in  eflfect.  an  increase    of    the   visible    supply   of 
wheat  even  beyond  the  limits  of  comprehen8ion  { 

My  third  proposition-that  future  contracts  are 
all-powerful  in  fixing  values-  follows  natuially  Com 
a  consideration  of  my  second:  -If  the  pernicious  effect 
ot  futures  is  to  increase  the  ostensible  supply  beyond 
the  legitimate  figure,  then.  b>-  the  inevitable  law  of 
supply  and  demand,  prices  must  arrange  themselves 
in  sympathy  with  the  superincumbent  weight  of  this 
supply-be  it  real  or  artificial  -and  the  market  price 
thus  forced  far  below  its  natural  and  legitimate 
level. 

I  need  not  occupy  your  time  in  demonstrating 
that  values  are  sympathetic,  and  that  a  continued  low 
price  for  speculative  commodities  means  a  low  price 
for  all  farm  produce.  You  cannot  obtain  a  dispropor- 
tionately  higher  i)rice  for  pork  than  for  the  corn  to 
produce  pork;  neither  can  you  expect  corn  to  bring  a 
higher  mai'ket  price  than  wh.at,  for  wheat  contains 
more  nutriment  than  corn,  and  the  world  prefers 
wheaten  to  corn  bread.  In  like  manne.-  vou  cannot 
expect  your  farms  to  have  n.,u-e  than  a  productive 
value  as  based  on  the  market  price  of  their  yield  You 
cannot  gain  on   the  one  hand  what  you  lose  on  the 


aODERN  SPECULATION.  16 

Other.  Close  observation  and  economical  cultivation 
may,  at  times,  have  enabled  you  to  produce  specialties 
at  a  profit,  but  sooner  or  later  you  have  found  even 
these  to  sink  to  a  basis  of  poor  pay  for  hard  work. 

The  same  general  disregard  for  the  limits  of  prop- 
erty, and  the  same  carrying  of  fictitious  stores,  exists 
in  the  cotton  exchanges,  and  in  fact  in  all  branches  of 
the  speculative  exchange  system. 

I  did  not  intend  to  go  beyond  the  effect  of  mod 
ern  speculation  on  agricultural  products,  but  I  desire 
to  say  a  few  words  in  regard  to  the  possibilities  in  the 
so  called  speculation  in  railroad  stocks,  for  the  rail- 
roads are  so  closely  connected  with  youi  welfare  that 
you  cannot  ignore  them  in  consid.'ring  the  subject  of 
abnormal  influences  on  the   prosperity  of  the  country. 
Now,  if  the  shares  of  railroad  stocks  can  be  sold 
in  excess  of  the  possibility  of  delivery,  then  it  follows 
that  one  can,  while  controlling  the  majority  of  shares 
in  any  particular  road  -and  with  them  the  manage- 
ment—make sales  for  future  settlement  to  such  an 
extent  that  he  becomes  interested  in  destroying  the 
value  of  the  property,  as  a  means  of  making  his  con- 
tract sales  profitable.     This  may  be  done  by  breaking 
freight  or  passenger  rates;  by  defaulting  interest;  by 
passing  dividends:  by  stock  watering;  by  extravagance 
and     poor      service.     After     the      termination    of 
his      contracts       of      sale      he      may       become     a 
buyer,       and      manage      the    property,       with     an 
eye     on     the     coming    day    when    he    can    punish 
those  who  have  dared  to  sell  short.     You  can  see  that 
speculation,  as  it  is    known,  furnishes  greater  induce- 
ments to  run  railroads    for  the  benefit  of  the  specula- 
tive interests  of  their  managers  than  for  the  profit  of 
the  stockholders,  or  for  the  accommodation  of    the 
public.     It   would  be  unkind  to  intimate  that  any  of 


'i 


■*«a»i 


f/> 


^^  MODERN   SPECriLATlON.  ' 

our  great  railroads  are   or  hnv^  k 

as  an  illastration.  ^'''^  ''"  ^""  ^^^^  ^rie 

The  Stock  ExohangP  of    New  YnrU     v      u 
lative  list      Th^K.  .    .^       '^'^'^^^^c^tes  on  the  specn- 

«.e  »,n  '„,  i:;  1  :;•■".;:■ »" -'--'^  ■•• - 

changes,:  He.    "nZr    "'T^  '"P"'""'  "'  ''-  - 

•--.  an.  ?i-\ to:::  '^""^^"^^  '-•  ^-'-  -^,.0. 

Plainly  tha'  Z  Za^Ul  TT  •'    "'^  ""^="  ^"^ 

behind  the  scenes  a  J         '  '■"^^''  '^"  ''"'"'"^'  »«  *-'" 

yonrselve,s      ,r  .0   V-'"'"".  ''"  """■'"""•   '"'" 

leads  yon  to  L^;\t/:;;:  ::^;^;—--'n 

the   produces  o\        '^'•'^;''»^'^^-^>^-  be   of  benefit  ro 

I'louuceis  or  to  any  of    the  facfor«  ^c    i     ••• 
eommerce-ves   if    v„„    ^      "'*^  '''"^rs  of    legitimate 

.         •      '        y*"  do  not  find  Aforl».i...  ij.        i 
tion  a  despot   that  ex-.r.t«  ,  '"<i  *lodeiu  ^jH^cula- 

that.etsan  unins   vT        "        '  '''* '"""^  ''^  "*"  «»'! 
pren.ises  anc?    1     ,     ""  '""'  '"'"■^^■••-- ">>•  -hole 

vestiKation  the r,*^^  :';::;;:/'-''"^  ''"'^  '"^  '■"- 

and  when  vou  havl."  ^  '^"*^'"""  '"■^i'^''  ""t. 
in  believi„r It  he  e"\  "  •""  ""'  ='-'^'^  ^-^"  "- 
all  else  to  de  t  ,  ',  ""T  ""  '"'"«  "'"'-  '"«" 
into  classef^savt  ::•;"''   ^"  '^'-'''^  '""'   1-ple 

division  vou  are  not  the        '""^'^'•'^-«"'l  "'at  in  this 
.>uu  are  not  the  masters. 

If  there  is  no  remedv  for  th^  ^     j- 
commercial  (lise...  -!"^''^  ^'^'^  ^^'^  eradication   of  this 

«..  pan  t  :;:s ' :  rrtr;':- " *"■■""  •■" 

I"  ;you  Its  insidious  workings 


MODERN  SPECULATION.  It 

But  there  is  a  remedy.  It  is  necessary,  however,  be- 
fore explaining  its  nature  that  we  thoroughly  compre- 
hend the  disease. 

I  think  you  will  concede  that  in  some  way  it  is 
possible  for  the  exchanges  to  violate  commercial  law, 
or  the  fabulous  figures,  representing  their  transactions, 
could  have  no  existence.  It  is  equally  plain  that 
were  there  statute  laws  governing  the  peculiar  busi 
ness  for  the  management  of  which  the  exchanges  have 
made  their  own  laws,  it  would  be  i)alpably  impossible 
for  them  to  set  aside  or  to  substitute  such  laws  by 
those  of  their  ow n  manufacture.  The  exchanges  draw 
their  sustenance  from  the  outsidf-  world,  and  the  mem- 
bers of  these  organizations  would  be  liable  in  actions 
against  them  if,  in  ihe  execution  of  contracts,  they  were 
to  disregard  the  exactions  of  law. 

If  this  is  so,  it  naturally  follows  that  the  enact- 
ment of  statute  laws,  defining  what  shall  be  legal  con- 
tracts for  the  sale  of  vouchers  representing  pioperty, 
and  making  it  necessary  for  the  seller  to  deliver,  or 
tender  these  evidences  of  ownership  in  termination  of 
their  sales,  would  draw  a  distinct  line  between  the  real 
and  the  artificial,  and  put  a  stop  to  the  so  called  sales 
of  billions  of  dollars  worth  of  imaginary  property,  on 
contracts  that  could  not  be  legally  terminated.  Law 
would  thus  take  the  place  of  rules,  and  the  solid  real- 
ities of  trade  would  occupy  the  position  now  held  by 
base  imitations. 

Such  a  law,  to  the  legitimate  buyers  and  sellers, 
would  not  be  embarrassing,  for  they  are  engaged  in  ac- 
tual trade,  controlling  the  means  necessary  for  com- 
pliance  with  its  provisions.  Legislation  of  this  kind, 
if  attempted,  will  no  doubt,  by  the  exchanges,  be 
called  hampering  trade,  but  this  I  most  emphatically 
deny.     It  is  legislation  that  every  dealer  ip  the  actual 


18 

MODERN   SPECULATION 

theg^in  which  has  be    IZtwi::  .r  '''"  *'" 
and  enrich  the  nation.  '^^'''^  '"  '«"^  ""^y  grow 

of  .ht.'^ln!""'/"""'  '^"'"-  ^  *^«-"^'>  ''™ 

of  New  To  k  dXVr"  '"'"'""'^'^  '"^«  '»>«  «--te 

Senate  bm  No  ""l  ^tr"\f  T""     '^'"^  ^'"- 

ni.ttee  and  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate     r  I  T' 

body  hravot^  ,.*  m  *    ,         senate,     ft  passed  that 

an.1  Lf  .1.  ®  ^^  ^^y  importance  to  them 

tion,  ^  subject  to  your  atten^ 


MODERN  SPECULATION.  10 

In  meeting  this  question  you  cannot  afford  to  meet 
it  as  partisans;  you  must  meet  it  with  an  undivided 
front,  demanding  the  greatest  good  to  all. 

Will  you  thus  unite  in  demanding  that  there  shall 
be  a  law  to  regulate  the  buying  and  selling  of  your 
produce '( 

Will  you  insist  upon  lawful  contracts,  which,  if 
violated,  can  be  enforced  by  courts  that  are  open  to 
every  citizen  ? 

Will  you  insist  that  property  shall  be  necessary 
in  the  speculation  that  establishes  the  standard  of 
value  of  your  labor,  your  soil  and  its  products  ? 

Will  you  demand  that  there  shall  be  no  more  ar- 
tificial expansion  of  the  accumulated  stores,  and  that 
the  rules  of  the  exchanges  shall  no  longer  nullify  the 
laws  of  the  land  ^ 

If  you  answer  yes,  then  I  have  not  occupied  your 
time  in  vain,  for  you  will  rise  in  your  might  and  be- 
come masters  of  the  situation.  You  are  not  alone  the 
sufferers,  and  when  your  strong  arms  shall  have  open- 
ed the  highway,  an  irresistible  army  will  be  seen 
marching  on  demanding  the  same  law  for  slave  and 
master;  the  same  law  for  plutocrat  and  proletarian. 


20 


MODERN   SPECULATION. 

RESOLUTIONS. 


At  the  close  of  this  address  the  ara„ge  teu.le.ed 
a  vote  ol  •  thanks  to  Mr.  Quick  wh.ri  the  f„ll.,winf. 
les  )Iiitions  uere  unanin.onsly  passed: 

Whereas  The  dealings  .„  the  products  „f  „gricul,nral  irKlusfv 

u";!-2ebeit  '"'''    '"^  P™''-''-  -'-tries  of    the  .tate. 

Resolved.  TImt  we  demand  of    our  Leuis|..,,.r„  .1, 
surh  laws  a«  will  ^  1  i^KisUluie  the  enaotuient  of 

8urn  la«s  as  «,ll  make  prop.rty  necessary  in  the  tern.mation  of  .11 
contracts   l)ased   on   ceriifl,-^....   .  .  "^nnindtiori  of  all 

.  '"'*''*"'«*"l"«n<-'<'»."'-  other  evidence- of 

property  and  we  recon)mend  for  their  fi.rth...  •  ,      ""^'"''^  "* 

introduced  in  ifin';   ,1        ,  '"'^"^  ""^'*"''   '"nsideration  the  hill 

J^  Wu<ed  m  18«o,  then  known  as  Senate  Bill  No.  72.  and  further 

teo?,rd.  That  we  as  representatives  of  the    farming   in.lus.ries 
■  hllrestdZ    " '"' '■"^^"^-f  ~-  ^or   the  acc.nplishn.ent  of 


FULL  TEXT  OF  THE  BILL  REFERREi;  TO. 

An  AtT-ReguI„ting  contracts  for  the  purchast-  and 
sale  of  stocks,  certificates,  receipt.,  o,  other  evi- 
ciences  of  property. 

Section  1-Be  it  enacted,  etc.,  that  it  shall  be  the 
duty   of    every  person,   partnership,  and  corporation 
^aktng  any  contract  for  the  sale,  or  any  tt-aLsa-tic  n 
based   on     he   present  or  pr,>spective    value  of    any 
shares  of   the  capital  sr.,ck  of  any  corporation   or  o ' 
any  property  delivery  whereof  is  to  U.  m,a.   bv  de 
hvery  ot   written,  or  printed,  or  partly  written"  and 
partly    printed,  certificates,  receipts,  aleptanlsl^. 
ohe,^ evidences  of   title  to  or  liability  for  the  delivery 
01    the  property  therein   specified,  made  or  issued  b; 
any  person,  partnership,  or  corporation  having  the  .-us 
tody,  possession  or  control  of  such  property,  To  deliver 


MODERN   SPECULATION.  21 

at  the  time  or  during  the  day  of  the  making  of  such 
contract,  surh  certificates  of  shares,  receipts,  accept- 
ances or  other  evidences  of  title  to  or  liability  for  the 
delivery  of  the  property  therein  specified,  or  furnish 
the  buyer  with  the  serial  numbers  and  dates  of  such 
certificates  of  shares,  receipts,  acceptances  or  other 
evidences  of  title  to  or  liability  for  the  delivery  of  the 
property  therein  specified,  respecting  which  such  con- 
tract of  sale  is  made,  and  which  are  to  be  delivered  in 
fulfillment  of  such  contract.  If  no  time  is  .specified  in 
such  contract  for  the  delivery  of  the  thing  sold,  the 
time  for  making  such  delivery,  or  for  furnishing  the 
serial  numbers  and  dates,  shall  be  at  the  time,  or  dur- 
ing the  day  of  the  making  of  the  contract.  Provided: 
that,  if  by  the  terms  of  any  written,  or  printed,  or  part- 
ly written  and  partly  printed  contract  of  sale,  delivery 
of  the  thing  sold  and  res])ecting  which  such  contract 
is  made  is  fixed  for  some  future  time,  the  time  for 
making  delivery  of  the  same,  «.r  for  furnishing  the  buy- 
er with  the  number  and  dates  as  aforesaid,  shall  be  at 
the  maturity  of  the  contract,  but  not  later. 

Section  2— Neither  party  to  any  contract  of  sale 
falling  within  the  provisions  of  this  act  shall  have 
power  to  waive  the  delivery  or  identification  of  vouch- 
ers  by  numbers  and  dates  as  specified  in  Section  1. 
No  evidence  of  any  such  waiver  shall  be  admitted 
upon  any  hearing  or  trial  in  an v  suit  or  proceeding 
upon  any  such  contract,  or  in  which  any  such  contract 
is  in  any  manner  involved,  and  no  rul^.  by-law,  reso- 
lution, or  other  action  of  any  board,  partnership,  cor- 
poration or  other  association  shall  waive  or  nullify 
any  of  the  provisions  of  this  act. 

Section  3— If  any  person,  partnership,  or  corpora- 
tion, making  any  contract  of  sale  such  as  is  specified 
in  the  first  section  of  this  act,  shall  fail  to  comply  with 


22 

MODERN   SPECULATION 

sm-H    K,.  ^  ^^  ^^  ^^y  contract  as  afoiv 

breach  of  contract.  J^n^diction  of  actions  for 

memtrsnr""    ^""^  P''"'*'"  "^  persons,  member  or 

Inlf  nf  or.  "  **'^"'"  '^'^n  behalf,  or  on  be 

iialf  of  any  person,  co-partnership  assooiat  nn 

poration,  any  contract  of  sale  such  asT  ?■'  """" 
and  specified  in  the  fi.t  JZ^^  th  s  ct'^r' 
sell,  repledge,  or  make  anv  new  contr^nt  f  w  "" 
or  pledge  of  any  certiHeate  ^f  shares  rln^  '"'' 
ances  or  other  eviden<-es  of  ^5^1.         ,     ^*''  '"'"'^P^- 

nishirig  the  dates  and  numbers  of  th!  .      ^''" 

in  th^  ««  ^         .  """Jueis  or  tne  same  as  direot^H 

in  the  lirst  section  of  this  art   tr.^    •     ^       .    directed 

.  «r  cms  act,  knowingly  give  or  use 


MODERN   SPECULATION.  23 

any  false,  fictitious  or  fraudulent  date  or  number,  such 
person  or  persons,  member  or  members  of  any  co  part- 
nership or  association,  officer  or  officers  of  any  corpor- 
ation, shall  be  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor,  and  on  con- 
viction shall  be  sentenced  for  every  such  offense  to 
pay  a  fine  not  exceeding  one  thousand  dollars  and  not 
less  than  one  hundred  dollars,  and  be  imprisoned  for 
any  term  not  exceeding  one  year. 


ANALYSIS  OF  THE  BILL. 


This  bill  has  been  submitted  to  lawyers  of  high 
standing  for  legal  criticism.  It  has  been  carefully  ex- 
amined  also  by  experts  in  modern  speculation  as  con- 
ducted through  the  medium  of  the  exchanges;  and  in 
each  instance,  it  has  stood  the  test.  In  the  following 
analysis,  nothing  is  assumed  or  stated  that  facts  and 
figures  have  not  established  beyond  question. 

The  measure  applies  only  to  the  purchase  and  sale 
of  stocks,  elevator  and  ware-house  receipts,  pipe-line 
certificates,  or  vouchers  representing  property,  which 
are  to  be  delivered  in  lieu  of  the  property  itself. 

SECTION   ONE. 

Provides  that  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  every  person 
*  making  any  contract  for  the  sale  of  any 
shares  of  stock,  or  of  any  property  delivery  whereof  is 
to  be  made  by  delivery  of  written  or  printed  certificates 
*  *  *  to  deliver  at  the  time,  or  during  the  day,  such 
certificates  *  *  or  furnish  the  buyer  with  the  serial 
numbers  and  dates  of  such  certificates  ^^  *  for  the 
delivery  of  the  property  therein  specified,  respecting 
which  such  contract  of  sale  is  made,  and  which  are  to 
be  delivered  in  fulfillment  of  such  contract— or  to  be 
more  direct  and  pointed— to  guarantee  that  the  trans- 
action is  bona  fide,  a  purchase  and  sale,  with  all  the 


*     •» 


1-* ' 


24  MODERN    SPECULATION. 

elements  of  legitimate  business   attached,  and  devoid 
of  every  semblance  of  gamblins: 

If  by  the  terms  of  any  contract,  delivery  is  fixed 
at  a  future  time,  the  maturity  of  that  contract  shall  be 

governed   by  the  same    conditions  as  regular  trans- 
actions. 

This  reduces  every  transaction  to  a  regular  basis, 
and  brings  every  contract  to  a  legal,  busiuess  termina- 
tion. For,  under  the  law,  the  seller  may  not  expose 
for  sale  a  commodity  that  is  not  within  either  his  pos- 
session or  control,  and  the  buyer  should  be  ready  with 
the  means  to  p^.y  for  that  commodity,  without  any 
hope  or  design  of  settlinff  differences  by  the  aid  of 
•'Wash  Sales"  and  clearing-house  legerdemain. 

SECTION  TWO, 

Provkies,  That  neither  party  to  any  contract  of 
sale  ^  ^  *  shall  have  power  to  waive  any  of  the 
provisions  thereof  relative  to  delivery  or  identification 
of  vouchers  by  members  and  dates.  No  evidence  of 
any  such  waiver  shall  be  admitted  upon  any  hearing 
ortTiaHn  any  suit  pending  upon  any  such  contract 
and  no  rule,  by-laws,  resolution  or  other  ac 
tion  of  any  board  *  ^  ^  «hall  waive  or  nullifv  any 
of  the  provisions  of  this  act. 

Under  this  section,  exchanges  are  brought  under 
the  jurisdiction  of  courts  so  that  members  of  such  bod- 
ies cannot  evade  the  law  of  the  land  by  acknowledg. 
ing  alone  the  authority  of  an  exchange. 

Why  should  a  member  of  any  exchange,  organ 
ized  under  the  law  of  tlie  land,  possess  more  power 
than   a  private  citizen,  both  supposed  to  be  dealing  in 
like  commodities  under  equal  laws? 

Buy  a  thousand  bushels  of  wheat  of  a  farmer  or 
merchant,  an  absolute  delivery  is  necessary  to  com- 
plete  the  contract. 


MODERN   SPECULATION.  25 

Buy  a  thousand  bushels  of  wheat  cf  a  member  of 
an  exchange,  you  only  get  or  pay  the  difference  be- 
tween to-day's  market  price  and  that  of  to-morrow. 

There  is  nothing  real  in  this  latter  transaction.  If 
the  market  goes  in  your  favor,  you  get  something  for 
nothing.     You  gain,  some  one  else  loses. 

Two  persons  sow,  one  only  reaps.  The  members 
of  the  exchange  annihilate  the  profits  of  production, 
and  in  the  end,  after  paying  interest,  exchange  and  the 
hundred  and  one  el  ceteras,  confiscation,  poverty,  and 
the  worst  form  of  slavery  must  follow.  Production  has 
to  stand  the  drain  and  is  relieved  of  none  of  its  accumu- 
lations or  surplus.  The  system  fosters  a  spirit  of  gam- 
bling  detrimental  to  good  citizenship  and  creates  an 
army  of  idlers,  "They  toil  not,  neither  do  they  spin, 
and  yet  I  say  unto  you  that  Solomon  in  all  his  glory 
was  not  arrayed  like  one  of  these." 

Liberty,  in  the  formation  of  contracts,  is  not  only 
recognized,  but  substantially  guaranteed  by  the  pro- 
visions of  the  bill.  License— that  miserable  counter- 
feit of  liberty— when  used  to  destroy  honest  barter,  is 
restricted  in  the  first  instance;  and,  if  persisted  in  is 
punished. 

The  courts  are  thrown  open  to  the  injured  party, 
where  he  may  recover  in  an  action  at  law,  without 
fearing  the  rules  of  the  exchanges,  or  of  being  out- 
lawed as  a  gambler. 

Any  one  studying  the  history  of  the  modern  ex- 
changes, and  their  legitimate  offspring— "the  Bucket- 
Shop"— will  appreciate  the  necessity  of  this  measure, 
which,  after  all,  aims  at  nothing  more  than  the  resto- 
ration of  trade  to  its  normal  condition,  upholding 
honesty  in  the  buying  and  selling  of  commodities,  and 
consigning  the  gambler  and  his  vices  to  the  fostering 
care  of  an  outraged  law. 


26 


MODERN  SPECULATION. 


^ 


SECTION  THREE,    . 

Provides,  If  any  pejson  making  any  contract  of 
sale,  such  as  is  specified  in  the  first  section  of  the  act, 
shall  fail  to  comply  with  the  requirements  of  the  same,' 
he  shall  thereupon  become  liable  to  the  buyer  for  all 
damage  and  injury   sustained   and  suffered   by  said 
buyer,  by  reason  of  such  default.     And  if  anv  person, 
making  any  contract  of  purchase,  such  as  is  ^specified 
m  the  first  section   of    the  act,  shall  fail  or  refuse  to 
receive  the  certificates  of  shares  or  other  evidences  of 
title  to  property  therein  si»ecified,  bought  under  such 
contract,  when  tendered  in  fulfillment  of  the  same,  he 
shall  become  liable  to  pay  the  seller  all  loss,  damage 
and  injury  sustained  by  said  seller,  by  reason  of  such 
default.     Any  loss,  damage  or  injury  sustained  or  suf- 
fered by  either  party,  under  any  contract  as  aforesaid, 
by  reason  of  the  failure,  refusal  or  default  of  the  other 
party  to  the  same,  may  be  recovered  by  such  injured 
party  in  an  action  at  law,  to  be  sued  for  in  any  court 
having  jurisdiction  of  actions  for  breach  of  contract. 

SECTION    FOUR, 

Provides,  If  any  person  or  persons  shall  have 
made  by  themselves  or  agents  on  their  own  be^half,  or 
on  behalf  of  any  co-partnership,  any  such  contract  or 
sale  as  is  mentioned  and  specified  in  the  first  section 
of  the  act,  shall  re-sell  or  re-pledge  or  make  any  new 
contract  for  the  sale  or  pledge  of  any  certificates  of 
shares  or  other  evidence  of  property,  such  as  are  men- 
tioned and  described  in  the  First  Section  of  the  act, 
while  any  previous  contract  for  the  sale  or  pledge  of 
the  same  is  in  force  or  unexecuted,  or  shall,  in  furnish- 
ing  the  dates  and  numbers  of  the  same,  as  directed  in 
the  First  Section  of  this  act,  knowingly  give  or  use 
any  false,  fictitious  or  fraudulent  date  or  number, 
such  person  shall  be  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor  and  on 


MODERN   SPECULATION.  27 

conviction  shall  be  sentenced,  for  every  such  offense, 
to  pay  a  fine  not  exceeding  one  thousand  dollars  and 
not  less  than  one  hundred  dollars,  and  be  imprisoned 
for  any  term  not  exceeding  one  year. 

This  section  simply  designates  the  punishment 
for  the  violation  of  any  of  the  provisions  of  the  law, 
against  the  possibility  of  duplicating  sales,  based  up- 
on the  same  unit  of  commodity,  without  first  making 
a  delivery.  In  other  words,  the  penalties  herein  des- 
ignated will  prevent  the  transformation  of  "wind'^  or 
^ 'short"  selling  into  bear  arguments  by  the  aid  of 
which,  the  laws  of  supply  and  demand  are  rendered 
void  and  of  no  effect.  Assuming  this  bill  to  have  be- 
came law,  then  the  admonition  to  those  in  the  trade  is, 
be  honest  in  all  your  transactions,  but,  if  you  are  not! 
he  who  is  injured  by  your  gambling  practices  will,  if 
he  knocks,  find  the  courts  open,  and  you  if  you  be 
guilty  will  find  the  prison  open.  A  jury  of  vour  peers 
will  determine  what  is  justice  in  the  premisis.  The 
issue  is  plain  so  that  he  who  runs  may  read. 


OBJECTIONS  TO  LEGISLATION. 


The  objections  to  Legislation  that  are  worthy  of 
notice  are  confined  to  a  narrow  field,  and  may  be  brief- 
ly  stated: 

First.— That  the  passage  of  laws  regulating  specu- 
lation in  any  one  State  will  drive  business  to  some 
other  State  where  no  such  laws  exist,  and 

Second.  That  speculation  will  be  destroyed  and 
the  surplus  products  thus  thrown  entirely  on  the  hands 
of  the  producers. 

In  meeting  the  first  proposition  it  should  be  noted 
that  the  proposed  legislation  does  not  in  any  way  tend 
to  lay  burdens  on   the  buyers  and  sellers  of  actual 


^'t^i'JT* 


!•.■ 


ti 


K 


^^  MODERN  SPECULATION. 

property.      Sellers  with  property  at  their  command 
can  deliver  the  same;  buyers  for  legitimate  purposes 
are  prepared  to  accept  their  purchases.     One  havin- 
vouchers  for  actual  property  would  certainly  not  leave 
a  State  in  which  the  sales  of  property  were  protec.^d 
in  order  to  offer  his  wares  in  markets  where  their  sub- 
stance is  of  less  consequence  than  their  shadow;  neith- 
er would  buyers  for  legitin.ate  speculation  seek  mar- 
kets where  they  could  not  enforce  their  contracts  in 
preference  to  buying  where  tlfere  was  a  law  for  their 
protection.       It  would  be  more    logical   to  conclu.le 
that    the    legitimate    buyers     and     sellers     would 
seek  to  operate  in  those  States  where  there  were  laws 
enabling  them  to  collect  for  damage  on  violated  con- 
tracts, and  that  commercial  transaction."*  would  soon 
be  in  the  ascendency,  relegating  the  operations  of  Ex- 
changes under  their  own  laws  to  pass  to  the  rear  ..f 
those  «ontroled  by  general  laws  to  which  all  have  the 
right  of  appeal. 

In  reply  to  the  second  objection  that  speculation 
will  be  destroyed,  etc. : 

It  is  clear  that  speculation,  in  the  form  that  it  has 
ever  performed  a  service  to  commerce,  has  been  almost 
if  not  quite  destroyed  and  supplanted  by  systems  un- 
der which  it  cannot  exist.  All  the  evils  pictured  as  a 
result  of  the  passage  of  law  regulating  contracts  are 
to-day  a  living  reality  by  reason  of  the  innovations  on 
speculation,  and  it  is  the  aim  of  the  legislation  recom- 
mended to  clear  the  field  for  the  growth  of  legitimate 
speculation  under  the  garb  of  which  so  much  damage 
has  been  inflicted  on  the  industrial  pursuits 


*«>i  ikrKT 


mmr 


MODERN  SPECULATION. 
CONCLUSION. 


29 


The  direct  effect  of  modern  speculation  on  all 
classes  of  produce  has  been  to  depress  values  until 
there  is  little  if  any  profit  left  for  the  producer;  both 
directly  and  indirectly  to  reduce  the  market  price  of 
physicial  labor  to  the  lowest  extreme,  and  to  give  over 
the  management  of  our  railroads  to  those  who  manip- 
ulate freight  and  passenger  rates,  dividends,  ex- 
penses, and  net  results  and  make  their  trusts  second- 
ary and  subservient  to  their  gambling  ventures  in  the 
exchanges. 

By  the  sale  of  contracts  maturing  at  future  per- 
iods at  prices  involving  less  expense  than  carrying 
vouchers  for  property  (as  has  been  previously  shown,) 
contracts  have  become  preferable  to  property,  and  tlie 
latter  is  a  constantly  increasing  burden.  The  realities 
of  trade  are  thus  secondary  to  their  imitation,  and,  a« 
the  sales  of  these  realities  establish  prices,  the  super- 
ior inducements  offered  for  the  puichase  and  sale  of 
the  imitation,  causes  the  genuine  to  take  the  lead 
in  a  general  and  continued  struggle  for  a  lower 
plane  of  values. 

As  a  placer  miner  finds  the  wealth  he  seeks  be- 
neath the  accumulation  of  worthless  ujatter,  so  in  the 
speculative  exchanges  true  values  are  constantly  hid- 
den by  the  fictitious,  and  this  fictitious  must  of  neces- 
sity be  removed  before  the  concealed  wealth  can  be 
exposed  to  view. 

The  accumulation  of  the  products  of  national  in- 
dustry has  become  the  nation's  curse.  Industry  and 
thrift  have  brought  a  burden  of  poverty.  Abundant 
harvests  have  responded  to  the  toil  of  the  husband- 
man, yet  they  have  garnered  who  have  not  sown. 

The  continuation    of  modern  speculation  means 


T/i 


30  MODERN   SPECULATION. 

universal  depression  in  trade;  markets  crowded  with 
pauper  abor;  lower  rents  and  rates  of  interest;  cur- 
ailment  of  stored  supplies  for  future  demand;  and 
the  connnerce  of  the  nation  monopolized  by  trust  and 
combinations  of  capital  that  force  tribut.:  and  live  in 
opulence,  while  the  masses  are  struggling  for  bread 

able  hope  that  the  exchanges  will  run  their  c-ourse  and 

and  ^.ait  for  the  dawn  of  a  m«re  prosperous  era  but 
unfortunately  these  parasites  on  comnLe  can  dr' w 

Sr  'IT""Z  7  '"'''  "'  ''''  ^"^^  ^^^  ''-^--^-d  with 
Hie       The    withdrawal  of  the  public  still  leaves  the 

-changes  to  dictate  the  value  of  the  real  commodi: 
les,  and  m  their  struggles  to  market  their  substitutes 
he  general  decline  will  continue.  A  commercial  revo- 
lution IS  necessary  in  order  to  eradicate  the  evil  and 
when  this  revolution  comes  no  one  engaged  in  legiti 
mate  trade,  m  production,  or  that  has  an  hour  s  labor 
to  market,  can  be  a  disinterested  spectator 


MODERN   SPECULATION. 


31 


EXCIIAN(^E  IVOMENC  LATURE. 

For  the  information  of  those  who  desire  to  study 
Modern  Speculation  through  the  exhaustive  reports 
furnished  by  the  press,  explanations  of  the  most  fa- 
miliar terms  are  appended.  It  will  be  seen  by  this 
brief  glossary  that  new*  words  were,  in  many  instances, 
absolutely  necessary  for  the  proper  classification  of 
transactions  which  have  come  into  existence  through 
the  exchanges,  and  because  the  vocabulary  of  the 
English  language  was  too  limited  to  furnish  terms 
adequate  to  express  such  innovations. 

.  Bear.-One  who  sells  that  of  which  he  is  not  possessed,  and 
exerts  his  influence  in  depressing  prices  in  order  that  lie  may  extort 
money  from  the  purchaser  by  buying  back  at  a  lower  price.  One 
interested  in  depressin^j  values. 

Bear  the  lHarket.-To  bear  is  to  pull  or  weigh  down,  the 
market.  To  ojierate  upon  the  market  by  stalling,  or  agreeing  to'  de- 
liver that  which  the  seller  dws  not  possess;  to  lower  prices  by  ab- 
normal influences,  false  rumors,  "wash"  sales  and  the  application  of 
devices  for  destroying  values. 

Bucket  Shop.— An  exchange  on  a  small  scale  which  makes 
no  pretense  of  buying,  selling,  carrying,  borrowing  or  lending  spec- 
ulative vouchers,  the  value  of  which  forms  the  base  for  their  trans- 
actions—gambling transactions  for  the  margins  involved. 
The  bucket  shops  obtain  their  quotations,  and  follow  the  general 
methods  of  business  practiced  in  the  exchanges,  but  their  transact- 
ions are  not  concealed  by  any  portion  of  actual  business.  The  bucket 
shops  could  not  run  without  the  exchanges. 

Borrowing  and  Leiuliiitf.-When  one  sells  short,  the  vac- 
uum thus  made  is  filled  by  borrotciny  from  the  longs.  The  one  buy- 
ing long  is  also  required  to  provide  for  carrying  his  purcjiases  by 
lending  them  to  others.  Every  short  must  have  an  opposite  long. 
A  short  can  be  a  borrower  and  not  receive  property,  and  a  long  can 
become  a  lender  without  lending  property.    The  one  who  has  bought 


^m^ 


n^rr 


32  MODERN   SPECULATION-. 

fiuldl  'Z'\  't""  °"  "'"  ""^  '"•"  """""«  -1  »"«  vacuum   is 
filled,  the  short  charging  and  the  long  paying  for  a  service   that   is 

ho     sen        )   "      t'  ''°''"'^'  '"''"'""■''  ^'^"  -  ■*  '-  -"•  in  the 
ornhan  "'"■••     ^"-«'>  '"e  competition    among  short   sellers 

and  transactions  mvolving  no  property  become  preferable. 

Bull.-An  exchange  term  for  one  who  wager,  a  margin,  or 
buys  for  speculative  purposes  without  receiving  and  retiring  his  pur- 
chases,  ..  e.  agrees  with  the  seller,  called  a  "bear"  or  "shorf "  to  take 
a  certain  amount  of  stocks  or  property  at  a  future  time  at  a  stated 
pnce:, fat  that  day  the  market  price  has  advanced  he  receives  the 
difference;  ,f  it  has  declined  he  pays  the  differen...  ,>„e  interested 
.n  advancing  prices  is  called  a  hull.  To  bull  is  to  exert  influence  to 
advance  markets. 

Bu,er'»  Opllon.-The  purchaser  of  ^buyers  option,  thirty, 
sixty,  or  ninety  days,  can  demand  that  the  seller  make  delivery  at 
the  price  agreed  upon,  on  any  day  within   that  time,  or  the  buyer 

e,  .  opHon  ,s  generally  at  a  fra.tion  above  the  cash  price.    This  frac- 
t^rmrn^7\"''   Prioes,  if  the  seller  held  property   with   which   to 
erm mate  his  contract,  would  be  the  compensation  for  storage,  in- 
terest,  insurance,  etc. 

Call  Conlract.-An  agreement  giving  the  buyer  the  privilege 
ofdemanding  the  delivery  of  property   within  a  specified  time  at  a 

t  ol  fofiT'  "  T  '  ""■  """^  ""'''  P"^^  »  ™--y  -nsidera- 
tionforthe  privilege  of  eaW„,g,  at  an  agreed  price  above  market 
quotations.  If  the  call  is  not  made  the  contract  expires,  an.,  the 
buyer  loses  and  the  seller  wins  the  stake  or  sum  paid   for  the  privi- 

Carryln^.-When  a  broker  is  holding  a  purchase  for  a  custom- 
er, becoming  responsible  for  the  same  until  ordered  to  sell,  he  is  said 
to  be  earryrng  for  his  customers  account.     The  broker,  in  filling  his 
order,  may  have  become  a  short  seller,  charging  brokerage   when 
no  purchase  ,s  made,  and   ma,   afterwards  collect  for  interest  and 
storage  on  the  supposed  property  held,  when  there  has  been  no  pur- 
chase or  ca,^yi„g  i„  the  transaction.      If  property  is  bought  and 
left  ina.broker's  hands  itcanbe  loaned  by  him  to  the  shortsln^nak- 
mg  de  iveries,  or  for  depressing  the  value  of  the  property  entrusted 
to  his  care.     Through   the  disregard  for  property  in  carryina  the 
greatest  additions  of  the  substitute  for  property  are  made 


MODERN    SPE(;ULATI<>N.  33 

Corner.— When  a  combination  of  buyers  purchase  a  larger 
quantity  of  any  article  than  is  known  to  be  in  existence,  and  by 
continued  buying  advance  prices  for  the  purpose  of  forcing  the 
short  sellers  to  settle  at  figures  that  involve  a  loss  to  them,  the  shorts 
ars  said  to  be  cornered.  The  principal  object  sought  in  a  corner  is  to 
force  the  shorts  to  settte  at  a  loss.  There  can  be  no  comer  when 
there  is  no  short  interest. 

Exchange.— An  association  of  a  limited  number  of  persons 
usually  incorporated  under  the  laws  of  a  State,  for  the  purpose  of 
dealmg  in  stocks  and  the  products  of  land  and  labor.  Through  the 
adoption  of  rules  and  by-laws  for  the  government  of  the  members 
and  transactions  in  the  exchanges,  the  so-called  contracts  are  not 
regulated  by  law,  nor  have  the  parties  to  them  any  legal  remedies 
The  great  majority  of  transactions  in  the  exchanges,  being  based  on 
margins  and  settlement  of  diflFerences  through  clearing-houses,  are 
gambling  wagers  upon  the  rise  and  fall  of  market  quotations,  and 
lack  the  requisites  of  legal  contracts  in  that  they  do  not  contem- 
plate the  purchase  sale  and  delivery  of  actual  property  for  an  actual 
price  paid. 

Flyer.-When  one  not  a  regular  operator  makes  a  gambling 
venture  on  margins,  or  through  the  exchanges,  he  is  said  to  take  a 
flyer. 

Future8.-Buyers'  and  sellers'  options.  Speculative  agree- 
ments that  terminate  at  a  future  time. 

Forced  quotatloni.-Qnotations  are  said  to  be  forced  when 
two  parties,  with  a  mutual  understanding,  make  fictitious   transac- 
tions above  or  below  the  market  for  the  purpose  of  affecting  values 
See  "Washing"  and  "Matching." 

I.amb8.-The  outsiders  who  contribute,  by  margins  and  other- 
wise, to  the  support  of  the  exchanges.  Those  that  have  not  had  ex- 
perience in  operating  in  the  exchange. 

Long.-When  a  buyer  has  purchased  on  tiaue,  or  leaves  his 
purchases  to  be  carried  by  his  broker,  he  is  said  to  be  long.  The  op- 
posite of  "Short.-    One  not  having  possession  of  his  purchases 

Hargin.-  A  sum  of  money  pledged  by  a  person  operating  through 
a  broker,  or  in  a  bucket  shop  or  exchange,  as  security  to  provide  for 
his  losses  on  adverse  changes  in  the  market  quotations.  Usually  the 
stake  put  up  at  the  time  of  making  the  wager;  the  amount  lost  or 
won  on  exchange  speculative  transactions. 

Match  Orders  or  matching.-Orders   to   buy    and   sell 
that  offset  each  other.     Giving  one  broker  an  order  to  sell  and   an 
other  an  order  to  buy  an  equal  amount;  one   transaction  cancels  the 
other  and  the  one  giving  the  order,  in  effect,  neither  buys  nor  sells 


'ai'iiiiiii" 


,^,„^ 


■AMMMIi^ 


-~  t  k<i     *   kAr\l  IKiT         


1 


^^^ 


•*4 


.)4 


MODKKN    SJM^XaiLATION. 


IVlatcliiiitf^,— Is  resorted  to  in  order  to  test  the  Btrength  or 
weakness  of  markets  preparatory  to  an  effort  to  advance  or  depress 
quotations.     See  "Forced  C,)uotations"  and  '•Washin^^" 

Pool.— A  combination  of  operators  for  the  piir[)ose  of  buying 
or  selhng  any  specuhitive  commodity  or  stock,  thereby  advancing 
or  depressing  prices  by  an  united  effort. 

Put.— The  opposite  of  "Call."  The  buyer  of  a  jmt  agreement 
has  the  privilege  of  delivering  or  putting  commodities  or  stocks  at  a 
certain  price  within  a  specified  time.  The  nominal  seller  receives  a 
sum  of  money  for  the  privilege,  and  is  obliged  to  acce})t  and  pay 
for  the  commodities  or  stocks  te!idered,  or  forfeit  the  difference  in 
market  price.  The  price  named  is  always  belo\N  cash  (Uiotations, 
and  unless  the  market  dechnes  so  that  the  holder  of  the  privilege 
can  purchase  at  a  less  price  than  that  named  in  the  put.  he  loses  and 
the  seller  wins  the  stake. 

Riii;;.— A  clique.  A  faction.  A  combination  of  brokers,  si)ec- 
ulators,  politicians,  or  gamblers  for  the  purpose  of  operating  iu.  or 
controlling  markets,  properties,  legislation,  or  poolM. 

Sellers'  <>ptioii».— Agreements  which  give  the  sellers  the 
ojition  to  deliver  at  any  time  prior  to  a  fixed  date,  at  a  price  named, 
and  the  buyer  is  required  to  receive  the  stocks  or  property  tendered, 
or  settle  differences.  A  sellers'  option  for  any  month  terminates  on 
the  last  business  day  of  that  month. 

Shorl.  To  Sell  Short,— In  the  sale  of  stocks,  cotton,  grain, 
etc.,  to  sell  short  is  to  agree  to  deliver  what  one  is  not  possessed  of. 
Short  transactions  are  a  stumbling  block  to  beginners;  the  science 
of  selling  what  one  does  not  have,  and  yet  make  money  by  the  c»per- 
ation,  is  a  species  of  metaphysics  which  comes  only  with  education. 
Short  is  the  opposite  of  "Long.'" 

Stratldle.— An  agreement  which  gives  the  holder  the  privilege 
of  either  calling  or  puttmg  at  the  same  price,  to  the  other  party,  the 
nominal  seller  or  buyer,  within  a  certain  time.  If  neither  privilege 
is  exercised  the  stake  is  lost  by  the  holder  of  the  privilege. 

Suekers.— Parties  who  are  induced  to  operate  in  the  exchanges 
by  reason  of  false  reports,  and  exaggerations.  When  a  poo]  or  oper- 
ator, sets  a  bait  for  the  outsiders,  those  who  bite  are  said  to  be  suck- 
ers. 

WaMliiiijf.— A  purchase  and  sale  previously  agreed  upon.  One 
broker  or  operator  buys  what  another  offers  for  sale  at  an  agreed 
price.  The  bargain  is  fictitious,  not  even  margins  being  at  stake, 
yet  the  effect  is  to  establish  quotations  and  furnish  a  basis  for  other 


^uuK'li^iKii^i't^;^ 


GAYLAMOUNT 

PAMPHLET  BINDER 

Manufoctured  by 

GAYLORO  BROS.  Inc. 

SyrocuM,  N.Y. 

Stockton,  Cotif . 


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